Plantar heel
pain, a chronic and disabling foot alignment, occurs in the adult population. Extracorporal
shock wave therapy (ESWT) offers a nonsurgical option in addition to stretching exercises, heel cups, NSAI, and
corticosteroid injections. This study aimed to investigate the effects of ESWT on calcaneal
bone spurs and the correlation between clinical outcomes and radiologic changes. The study involved 108 patients with heel
pain and radiologically diagnosed
heel spurs. All patients underwent ESWT once a week for 5 weeks at the clinic. Each patient received 2,000 impulses of
shock waves, starting with 0.05 mJ/mm2 (1.8 bar) and increasing to 0.4 mJ/mm2 (4.0 bar). Standard radiographies of the affected heels were obtained before and after the
therapy. Clinical results demonstrated excellent (no
pain) in 66.7% of the cases, good (50% of
pain reduced) in 15.7% of the cases, and unsatisfactory (no reduction in
pain) in 17.6%. After five ESWT treatments, no patients who received
shock wave applications had significant spur reductions, but 19 patients (17.6%) had a decrease in the angle of the spur, 23 patients (21.3%) had a decrease in the dimensions of the spur, and one patient had a broken spur. Therefore, results showed no correlation between clinical outcome and radiologic changes. The present study supports the finding that even with no radiologic change after ESWT
therapy, the
therapy produces significant effects in reducing patients' complaints about
heel spurs.